JTA bus delivering Narcan kits offers free lifesaving training near you

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Don’t miss the bus!

JTA’s Safety on The Move bus travels throughout Duval County, providing training to the public on how to use Narcan to save a person’s life if he or she overdoses.

Naloxone, also known as Narcan, can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Drug Free Duval partners with JTA to provide the training, which is offered on board the stationary bus.

It was parked at Pearl Plaza in the Brentwood neighborhood Wednesday morning.

The mobile classroom, which provides overdose education, is the first of its kind in the country.

LOOK | Ending Overdose: How Making Narcan Easily Available Saves Lives

JTA has been training its frontline workers on overdose prevention for two years, but only introduced the Safety on The Move bus last month.

“Opioid overdoses have increased exponentially in recent years,” explains Chris Geraci, JTA Chief Safety and Security Officer. “One of the big areas where that happens is public transportation. We wanted to see what we could do to help the community.”

That’s why JTA partnered with Drug Free Duval, which offers training and free Narcan kits to the public. JTA uses data from the DEA and the CDC to look at ambulance overdose calls in the city to determine where it will stop to provide the free training and kits.

Geraci said JTA understands the importance of helping provide the free resource. One of the security officers saved someone from an overdose.

“We had an unconscious passenger who was in cardiac arrest, who we administered Narcan to and revived him before we could save him,” Geraci said.

The intervention saved the passenger’s life.

Last year, at least 600 people in Duval County died from an opioid-related overdose. Another 133 people were rescued by a bystander who administered Narcan as they waited for first responders to arrive.

An overdose can happen to anyone, which is why Drug Free Duval founder Susan Pitman wants to educate as many people as possible about the warning signs of an overdose and how to use Narcan.

The bus’s first stop was on the South Side earlier this month.

“We’ve had moms and dads, we’ve had grandparents, sisters and brothers, business people and families who just want to keep the community safe,” Pitman said of the people who stopped by, got on the bus for the training session and then left with Narcan.

Pitman said the training is focused and not overwhelming.

“The training isn’t scary,” she said. “It takes 15-20 minutes. Everyone is welcome to ask questions. We will do it when we have a class of two or twenty. We are willing to meet people where they are.”

This is your chance to learn how to save a life. Pitman said no one needs to provide information to receive the training.

Participants will learn about the warning signs of an overdose, the Good Samaritan Act, which protects a bystander from prosecution or liability when using Narcan to save someone, and how to administer Narcan.

The Safety on The Move bus visits two locations in Duval County each month.

Those locations are determined by the data that identifies ambulance overdose calls, but JTA said if there is a company or organization that would like to have the bus provide training, it would like to hear from you.

You can contact Drug Free Duval to request a visit: click here.

The next bus stops are November 6 in Northwest Jacksonville and November 19 on the Westside, both days from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The exact locations are yet to be definitively determined.